Paul H. Merrill wrote:

While I do not completely agree with the tone of the comments, nor do I buy the specific numbers involved, I have found that the mouthing off about the terror of Spam to take more bandwidth than the (EMail) spam itself does. I also fear legislative involvement much more than the spam itself.

While TruthMonger's initial post, "Does Spamming Really Exist," was obviously an attempt to lure Ross Wright out of the lair from which he lurks, furtively monitoring the CypherPunks list, his secondary goal was undoubtedly to laugh up his sleeve at the posters who would inundate the list with a quantity of yea-nay's which would vastly exceed the amount of spam which is passed on to subscribers of the unfiltered toad.com CypherPunks list. A communique from TruthMonger, shortly before he transmorgatized into his 'Spammer' persona, informed me that he felt Paul Merrill had earned the title of Chief Spammer SpokesPerson/Champion, despite the heartfelt compliment that Ross Wright gave TM in one of his missives. The concept of the spam-complainer being the true spammer on any given mailing list, by virtue of setting off a mountain of posts which are in all likelyhood off-topic and meant to appeal only to the knee-jerk reactions of jerks with knees, is completely in line with the theory that the only posts which are truly off-topic on the CypherPunks lists are those which complain about off-topic posts. There is a case currently before the Supreme Court of Canada which is continuing, despite the original plaintiffs having settled out of court, without government intervention, which will decide whether gay couples will be allowed to get butt-fucked under the same vague, arbitrary and capricious laws as those which are used to ruin the lives of the heterosexual citizens. Even radical femnists have had the common sense not to petition the government to ensure women equal representation in the gas chambers of America. Radical anti-spammers should take note... Spammer